


Relax

by Lacertae



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bathing/Washing, Bathtubs, Caretaking, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Nudity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-16
Updated: 2015-01-16
Packaged: 2018-03-07 20:16:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3181739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lacertae/pseuds/Lacertae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*DaveKarkat*</p>
<p>Karkat comes back home in a bad mood, so it's up to Dave to find a way to cheer him up, and a bath sounds like a great idea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Relax

**Author's Note:**

> Some fluff to get me out of this damn writer's block that's been on me since the end of november... hope you enjoy!

Dave is immediately aware that Karkat is not in a good mood the moment he opens the front door.

Usually Karkat is happy with his part-time job –it isn’t the one he would have pictured for himself, but he found himself settling down easily, and nowadays he wouldn’t be able to see himself doing anything else, really, not until he finishes with college and joins the Threshecutioners– but there are days, and Dave realises this is one of those, that the weight of what he’s doing is heavy on him and does not leave when he does… it follows him home.

Karkat trudges in with a tired gait, shoulders slumped slightly and a small wrinkle in the middle of his forehead, just above his nose; it is telling enough, and the fact that he’s unknowingly making soft, whirry noises with his throat only adds to this feeling.

Dave takes a deep breath then stands up, and goes to meet Karkat in the middle of the sitting room, a small upturn of his lips as he reaches out to grab the bag from his hands. Karkat relinquishes the hold without commenting, but accepts the following hug with a soft, grateful falter of his growling.

“Welcome back,” Dave murmurs into his ear, arms wrapped around his shoulders as he breathes in his scent, and Karkat leans against him, arms sneaking around Dave’s hips to hug him back, in need to hold and be held.

“Thanks,” he replies, and the growling moves to his voice, vibrating through Dave’s chest.

“Shitty day, huh”.

It’s an understatement, and both know it’s not meant to be a question, it’s just stating the truth, and Karkat nods, accepting Dave’s words for what they are.

Dave smiles again, then offers Karkat his hand and intertwines their fingers together, feeling the heat from Karkat’s bigger, calloused hand in his own as he tugs him along.

Karkat follows without speaking, dropping his coat onto the floor –they’ll get back to it later– and lets Dave lead him into their bedroom.

When Dave pauses on the door, not sure which to pick –the bed or the recuperacoon?– Karkat silently nudges him to the right, towards his bed, and Dave nods, pushing him down until Karkat is comfortably sitting on the mattress, then he kneels in front of him and gently removes his shoes.

Karkat rolls his eyes, but it’s a tired movement and he’s smiling slightly, grateful and fond and finally able to relax a bit, and lets Dave remove both his shoes and then his socks without protesting.

They are still silent, even as Dave tugs his pants down, smiling slightly at the boxers with small prints of crabs on them. It’s a gift from Jade, who thought they would be cute, and Karkat wears them proudly (even if he’s the only one knowing. Him and Dave).

He drops the pants on the floor, smirks up at Karkat, who crosses his legs and looks down at him, eyebrows raised, then stands up and leaves the room, heading towards the bathroom.

A while back they used to live in different places –Karkat had his own hive, and Dave his small apartment– but when they moved together for college, they agreed on sharing a place and chose this particular house (specifically designed to fit both troll and human needs) specifically for two things; the sitting room, which doubles as a kitchen, the two spaces split evenly by a long counter right in the middle (because Karkat wanted one of those since grubhood, and Dave had no problem with indulging him). And then the bathroom.

Specifically, the bath _tub_.

It is one of those gigantic, horrifying traps straight from Victorian period –the human one, thankfully, because troll Victorian period is full of grotesque things that neither of them really wants to see on a daily basis– and that’s exactly why it’s so good.

It is big, and comfortable, and both Dave and Karkat can fit inside perfectly well, bodies sliding without problem in there enough to allow a lot of leeway. Karkat is on the heavier side, built like a fighter and just as sturdy, especially after his last pupation, and Dave is tall enough that a lot of things are too short for him (including his old bed).

That’s why that bathtub is one thing they both fell in love with, and the reason they picked this house specifically.

Dave’s feet make no noise as he walks into the bathroom and sets things up quickly, dropping inside some of Karkat’s favourite bath salts and setting the water on scalding levels.

Trolls’ skin is thick enough that it protects them from a lot of external conditions and weather, including heat and cold, so he feels happier when the water is really hot, and Dave has a particular fondness for heat that he didn’t know he had until he moved out of Texas for college. This way they are both happy.

He leaves the water on and returns to the bedroom, and is greeted by Karkat’s mostly naked body as he carefully folds and places his clothes on a chair. He stops there to admire the sight, and wiggles his eyebrows when Karkat turns around, only to get tugged against the body of his significant other for a soft, needy kiss.

Karkat’s body is soft and squishy and hard in all the right places, and Dave lets his hands wander down to caress the curvy surface of his sides, smiling against the top of Karkat’s head when Karkat gives him a warning nudge, just to remind him that no tickling is allowed.

It’s true that trolls are more difficult than humans to tickle, but his grub scars are sensitive and Dave has been allowed to render Karkat unable to think more than once in the past thanks to that. And in another circumstance he might even indulge, but it’s not today.

Today, Karkat needs attention of an entirely different sort, so he snuggles up against him, wiry and tall against wide and buff, and kisses him again.

Kissing Karkat is always nice, though Karkat always tries to take advantage of the height difference to aim for Dave’s neck, which is always covered with small bites and hickeys, but this time he seems to be focused on kissing and on being kissed and that’s just as fine.

To be this close to Karkat, it is one of the things he likes the most. He’s glad Karkat loves him back, because there are times like these –when he’s kissing Karkat, though sometimes he just has to look at him to feel it– where Dave is pretty sure Karkat is too good for him, though he is aware that sometimes Karkat feels the same towards Dave. They balance each other out, with faults and insecurities, and manage it out pretty well.

Dave takes his time with the kiss, and barely notices when Karkat unzips his pants and tugs them down, revealing Dave’s boxers (his favourite, those with a velociraptor head right on top of his crotch), and then presses himself more against him, skin on skin.

They have to stop kissing when Karkat insistently tugs on Dave’s shirt, so he removes that too and then pauses to roll his eyes as Karkat folds it onto the chair too, and also his pants too.

“Neat dork,” he mutters, but there is no edge to his tone, just amusement.

Karkat snorts. “It’s only right,” he replies, jutting his jaw out and looking at him with a pointed gaze.

“Yeah, yeah,” Dave is acutely aware that they are both mostly naked and the room isn’t exactly the warmest of the house. “C’mon, the bath’s almost ready”.

The bath is, in fact, more than ready, and he has to let go of Karkat’s hand to run to the side and shut the water before it reaches the edge of the tub.

They quickly drop their boxers in the laundry basket, and inch closer to the full tub, looking down at it with something close to anticipation.

Dave slides in first, testing the waters (literally) and shivering at the heated water as he slowly submerges himself into the tub, twirling his toes and breathing in the smell of the salt. It’s intoxicating and good, the sharp fragrance sharp as it fill his nostrils.

Karkat takes notice and his body seems to unwind even more, smiling at Dave’s inviting gaze before leaning down to pluck his shades off his nose.

“No need for those in there, don’t they get fogged up anyway?” he asks, but that is also a pointless question, because they both know the answer to that anyway.

Dave wiggles his eyebrows again, opens his arms and waits.

Karkat climbs into the tub, and his throat clicks and makes that happy, ‘frrr’ sound at the temperature as he lets himself sink into the water, leaning back against Dave’s body and relaxing fully.

Oh yes. This is nice. So nice.

Dave smiles and leans down to bury his face into Karkat’s nest-like hair, and they both don’t move for a while, simply soaking into the water.

The smell is not overpowering, but it wafts around them and it’s pleasant and even Dave, who’s on the shower team, actually thinks he might be converted to baths. Unless there’s a shower soap that smells the same.

Dave can feel Karkat’s pleased humming this close, so he gathers himself together –the hot bath is nice for him too, but he shouldn’t forget he is doing this for _Karkat_ , not for himself– and grabs the shampoo from a nearby tray, pours some onto his fingers, and gets to work.

He starts with making sure every inch of Karkat’s hair is slick with shampoo before working his fingers through its kinks, massaging and scrubbing the spots he knows Karkat likes the best –he rubs Karkat’s horns with his thumbs and then massages the skin around them, which sometimes gets irritated, and makes sure to apply more pressure on the base of the neck and behind his ears, which twitch slightly.

Karkat groans and wiggles a bit, sloshing the water with his legs as he stretches in the water –he can do that, because despite how big the tub is, Dave is still tall enough to get to the other end and if he stretches he has to get his toes out of the water– and his hands tap a mindless rhythm on the edge of the tub.

Dave finds himself humming in time with that, because his mind doesn’t quite stop working no matter how much he’d want it to sometimes, and he has raps on the tip of his tongue that he has to bite and swallow back, at least until Karkat almost headbutts him in the chin.

“You can do your thing,” Karkat tells him, voice soft and purring. “You know I like your voice”.

Dave is perfectly aware of the blush that is spreading on his cheeks, reaches his ears and then down his neck, but he easily faults the heat and the water rather than the pleasure of hearing Karkat say that, and then he lets himself go wild because he’s not one to deny himself the little pleasures.

These aren’t the times for scathing, sharp raps either –the only things that come to his mind are raps about things he likes and Karkat, always Karkat, and water and smells and metaphors that run ahead and away from him, and scatter in the air and disappear into the steam around them.

Karkat is almost boneless against his chest, but his fingers still accompany Dave’s voice, and sometimes when a rhyme is too much, Dave can feel him snort quietly, shoulders shaking slightly.

The little sounds only make him want to hear them more, and it’s not too soon that his raps evolve into jokes and little playful jabs, until Karkat gives in and sometimes offers a rhyme or two back, which is a delight into itself. Hell yes.

Dave finishes washing Karkat’s hair twice before rinsing it, and by the time he’s done with it, the water has cooled down from scalding to mildly hot. Karkat tugs the plug with one toe, then Dave pokes him in the ribs and makes him laugh, a sudden sound followed by a squeak when Dave does it again, teasing and grinning and happy, and then Karkat is shuffling up, huffing and slipping around, naked and gorgeous and smiling, and for a moment Dave has a very nice view of Karkat’s body as he stands up, wet and slippery and all muscle and fat and curves and grey skin, and then Karkat turns around and offers him a hand.

He goes up with a squeak that rivals Karkat’s squeal from before, because Karkat is strong and has no qualms literally sweeping Dave off his feet –or in this case on his feet, really.

Dave falls flat against Karkat’s chest, then reaches up and sets the shower head above them, the water gurgling as it’s drained out of the tub, and Karkat manoeuvres around Dave’s body to open the jet of water and–

“Shit it’s cold!”

Dave and Karkat scramble to move out of the jet, Dave pushing his arm up to shove the shower head away from him, only to point it at Karkat who’s backed away from him, and Karkat yelps before pushing it back in the middle, and they both shiver and laugh, and Karkat mock-glares at him as Dave sets the water back to hot, and then they meet again in the middle, cuddling until the shivers are gone and they are properly warm again.

“Do I get full treatment now?” Karkat asks, teasing and with a genuine smile, and Dave nods mock-seriously, grabs the sponge and the bubbly body wash, and gently starts from Karkat’s neck.

The spray of water on top of them makes it a bit hard when Dave has to work like this, but he likes a challenge, so he sweeps the sponge across Karkat’s shoulder blades, and then on his neck, front and back, and watches as the water quickly washes the soap away, then leans down and kisses the clean skin, feeling the muscle twitch under his lips.

Karkat looks up at him, and Dave feels the familiar fluttery feeling in the bottom of his stomach move up to his throat and it makes it hard to breathe, so he swallows the lump of love and affection he feels for Karkat and continues washing his arms, from shoulder down to the wrist, and then rinses it off before kissing the skin, fluttery kisses that stop at his palm before he moves to the other arm.

By the time he’s moved to his chest and stomach area, Karkat is purring and fidgeting slightly, appreciating all the attention but feeling unsettled that he has no way of returning the favour; it’s nice not to be in control for once, and being pampered by Dave always feels good, especially on days like this, but Karkat still feels bad.

Dave seems to notice this, because he pauses his soft scrubbing to straighten his back and kiss Karkat on the lips again, wet and with water falling on their heads, and smiles in what he hopes is reassuring before he returns to what he was doing.

Karkat’s bulge is slightly peeking from the folds of his nook, probably because of all the attention, but Dave keeps on cleaning without doing anything more, because this isn’t about sex either, and Karkat closes his eyes and mumbles softly under his breath.

It is such a good pose that Dave wishes he had his camera with him, if only to take a pic of Karkat’s face lost in bliss with the water falling all over him, then of course Karkat ruins this gorgeous mental picture by inhaling water and starting to cough, making Dave chortle and double over in laughter, dropping his sponge and having to kneel to retrieve it while Karkat retaliates by ruffling his hair and pouring shampoo all over him.

Dave hisses when Karkat’s fingers start to massage his hair, and splutters because this was for Karkat, not _him_ –but he can’t stand up with Karkat keeping him there, and it feels so good he can’t really make himself complain, really.

Karkat is good at massages, his hands are big and warm and wide, perfect to move on Dave’s sore back after his sparring sessions to soothe all his kinks, just as perfect as they are around his sickle when he joins in the practice, or around… well, around other things too.

But in this particular moment, Karkat is massaging his head and Dave feels like falling into a puddle of pleased goo, and only resurfaces from his trance when Karkat tugs down the shower head and tilts the jet onto his hair, rinsing it from the shampoo and finally allowing him to move back up to his feet, satisfied.

He really prefers it when he can do something too, and even if it’s just this, it makes him feel even better than allowing Dave all the fun. Maybe he will take some control back later, too.

Dave opens his mouth to complain, but Karkat is faster than him, and pushes him until his back is pressed against the cold tiles, and swallows his startled gasp in a heated kiss.

Oh well. That works too.

Dave smiles into the kiss, and kisses back, lips on lips and water on both of them, and the tiles are still cold but Karkat’s body pressed against him is hot, and the clashing of that makes him shiver and cling to Karkat’s shoulders.

Again, and again, Karkat moves away for a second before their lips meet once more, first a delicate pressure and then more forceful, needy, lips parting and tasting droplets of water.

Karkat moves away after what feels like hours, panting a bit and smirking, and Dave dazedly looks at him when Karkat turns around, and offers him his back to rub.

For a long moment, Dave has to recollect himself and his bearings, and then he presses his forehead against Karkat’s wide, strong back and chuckles until his sides hurt, and then scrubs the offered skin until it’s clean and raw and covered with small kisses.

It is with a bit of a pout that Dave reaches out and shuts off the water jet; they scramble out of the shower in a rush, because they both get cold quickly and the fluffy towels aren’t there just for decoration.

There is a split moment of them shuffling around the bathroom, completely naked and wet and dripping water everywhere, giggling like the teenagers they aren’t anymore, and Dave is happy to see that Karkat is finally fully relaxed.

Dave wraps Karkat up in a fluffy, blue towel that’s twice as big as him, and Karkat smiles up at him cheekily before doing the same for him with Dave’s own towel, a pink one with small yellow chicks printed on its surface, doing little happy chick things; Dave is enamoured with his chick towel, he has a set.

They return to their bedroom to change and get dressed again with clean pyjamas , then Dave pushes Karkat on the bed again, wraps him up in a blanket, and leaves.

Karkat waits for his return with some curiosity, even though he has an idea of what Dave is doing, and he’s right because a few minutes later Dave returns with a bowl of freshly made popcorn (with both salt and sugar of course, plus butter and a side dish of grub sauce specifically for Karkat to dip them in) and with two sodas, then drops everything on the bed and leaves again. This time Karkat knows exactly where he’s gone, and welcomes him when Dave is back with a selection of movies and his computer, which gets placed in front of them as he snuggles into Karkat and under the blankets too.

“So, what happened at work?” he finally asks as the computer is booting up and Karkat shoves a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

Karkat sighs, but he’s mollified enough that thinking about his day doesn’t get him down again.

“We found another illegal nest today,” he grumbles.

Karkat works at one of the many troll nurseries scattered across the planet; they are always full with grubs that get rescued from illegal nests, which a lot of the conspirers against the new Empress create to protest, since they want to return to the old ways.

The trolls who were born on Earth agree with the new Empress, Her Imperial Benevolence, and the way she is reforming their empire one change at a time, but there are a lot of older trolls –and even some other races, especially the more belligerent ones– who still agree with Her Dethroned Condescension. Illegal nests happen on a lot of planets, and the Threshecutioners are of course seeking them out to close them, but they know they cannot get everywhere.

Karkat had always wanted to be one of them, but he’s still in college and he needs to get by until then, so he joined the Nurseries as a paid voluntary, and helps raid the nests to take the grubs into care.

It’s sad to find uncared for nests, especially when grubs are left to fend for themselves because the conspirers have no idea how things worked on Alternia in the past, and it always makes Karkat angry and resentful.

Who wouldn’t be annoyed when a bunch of trolls (mostly highbloods scorned for losing some of their massive privileges) praise long gone practices while they don’t even know how those worked to begin with?

Earth doesn’t have many Lusii, especially so close to the bigger cities, and grubs can only go so far without one Lusus to care for them; and before the Lusii, there were Jade trolls who would make sure the grubs and the Mother Grub would be fine, but of course Conspirers in illegal nests do not care for ‘technicalities’.

“Are all the grubs you rescued ok?” Dave asks, because there is always a chance that…

“Yeah,” and Karkat’s frown disappears. “At least we got to them in time”.

Dave wraps one arm around Karkat’s shoulders, then shoves a handful of popcorns into Karkat’s parted mouth and kisses it, and Karkat sighs, swallows and leans into the one-armed hug.

Dave kisses his still damp hair and his temple and then his lips again, and Karkat kisses him back, slow and relaxed and grateful, and thinks of the positives and that the grubs are all safe now, even if there will be more out there that he’ll have to find and rescue.

But for now they are safe, and Karkat has Dave, and they are huddled together under a blanket with popcorn and a movie, and things are fine.

He’s grateful for all of that, and he’s grateful he has a home to go back to.

"Thank you," he murmurs.

Dave doesn't answer and just presses play, but the small, fond smile on his lips is answer enough for him.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to drop a comment if you liked!


End file.
